Eighteen
B right and early on Monday, Scott drove two towns over, so he’d be at the bank as soon as it opened. He’d told Lauren that he had a meeting that morning and let her believe it was with a client. The guilt of withholding the truth from her was better than her hating him because of his father’s sins.
Right at 9:00, the bank’s lights turned on and Scott jumped from his car and walked through the front door. He spotted the man he presumed to be the bank manager, mostly because he was sitting at a desk in an office with the words “Bank Manager” on the door.
Scott headed to the first teller behind the counter and asked to speak with the manager.
The young woman’s eyes widened, and she swallowed hard. “Um, yes, of course, right away. I’ll get Mr. Salver for you.”
She hurried from behind the counter to the manager’s office. Scott couldn’t hear what they were saying, but from the wild arm gestures and angry glare coming from the manager, he worried about the woman’s job security.
The second teller, an older woman, did nothing to ease Scott’s concerns. “She’s had a few bad weeks between angry customers and other issues.”
“I’m just here for information about some accounts I recently discovered. My father died, and I learned he had accounts here that haven’t been listed on his estate.
The older woman sighed and went to the folder organizer sitting on the counter behind the tellers. She pulled several sheets of paper from the folders and returned with a small stack she handed to him. “Welcome to probate. Or what I call the second circle of Hell.”
“Yeah, I’m an attorney, I’m familiar with it.” Scott suppressed a frustrated sigh.
“Who’s the account holder?”
“Dan Brandonson.” Scott should have been paying closer attention, but he was distracted by the younger teller wiping the back of her hand across her eyes. She must have been crying. Jeesh. Just how bad were these past few weeks?
“Excuse me a moment.” The woman helping him sprinted to the manager’s office.
And now there were three people in the office, all of whom turned and looked over at him at the same time.
The teller should have welcomed him to the third circle of Hell.
“Mr. Brandonson?” The manager stepped from his office and approached Scott in the bank’s lobby. “I’m Jacob Salver, why don’t you come back to my office.”
As soon as Scott stepped through the door, the manager closed it behind him. “Please sit down. I’m sorry to hear about your father’s passing. Am I to understand you’re requesting copies of the bank statements?”
Scott sat in the chair in front of the desk and handed over the death certificate and the document naming him as the executor of his father’s estate. “Detailed statements.”
Jacob Salver’s fingers moved across the keyboard. “You want detailed statements for all six accounts or just for a specific account?”
Six?
Scott had found some details for two accounts. Not six. Just what was his father up to?
“All of them. From the time of opening until now. And I’m also going to need to know all the signors for each account.”
“Of course.” The printer behind the manager whirred to life and began spitting out pages.
“And I’m going to request all the accounts are immediately frozen until we can ascertain where the money should go within his estate.”
“Yes, of course, I’ll do that right now.”
An odd thought came to Scott as he watched the man’s fingers press down on the keys. “Can you tell me if my father was an authorized signor on any accounts where he wasn’t the account holder?”
Jacob looked away from the information on his computer screen. “It looks as though he was an authorized signor for two accounts.”
“Personal or business?”
“Both are business accounts.”
“Can I get the names of those businesses? I’d like to notify them.”
“Well…”
“It’s going to come out in probate.” They both knew Scott didn’t have a right to the information, but it wasn’t as though he wanted personal details. “I’m just here for a few days. It would make my life easier if I didn’t have to wait for the probate judge to order the information.”
“All right. It looks like two LLCs. Harmonic and Tempo.”
“And they’re registered in this state?”
“Nope. Both are registered in Wyoming.”
Twenty minutes later Scott was back in his car with what might have been a half ream of paper. While driving back to Iron Creek, he called Georgia.
“What did you learn?” She didn’t start with a greeting and instead jumped to why she assumed he was calling.
“There’s six accounts. Money is always wired in and I have two more LLCs for the investigators to look at. Both are registered in Wyoming.”
“Where they can use an agent…”
“Where they can use an agent.” Scott confirmed her suspicion.
“I’m going to work out of Lauren’s bakery today. I can use a hot spot, but can you put an order in for high-speed internet?”
“What’s the address?”
“I’ll text it to you.”
“You want a rush on the order?”
“Please. And make sure we get the bill.”
“I’ll take care of it. Will you send the account information to the investigators or to me?”
“I’ll make a copy and Fed-Ex them to you.”
“Scott?”
“Yeah?”
“It might not be as bad as you think.”
“It might be worse.”
She didn’t respond to his pessimism. “Text me the address and I’ll get you your internet.”
“Thanks Georgia.”
He ended the call and drove the rest of the way back in silence.